Is it possible to write a classic song about the weather?

Happy Mondays

Acclaimed British producer Howie B thinks so, as he told BBC's 6 Music this week that Mad-chester faves the Happy Mondays are working on their first album since 1992's Yes Please and that the record will include a "classic" about the weather.

The Happy Mondays, already signed up to perform at Coachella next month, will release the album in the UK later this year via Sanctuary following the release of an album single this June. Howie B said frontman Shaun Ryder has been hard at work.

"Shaun is writing about what he's always written about, whatever's happening in his life really," Howie B told the BBC. "His health, drugs, the weather. In fact there's a beautiful song about the weather that he's written and it's a classic."

The as-yet-untitled album will include an unlikely appearance from rock guitarist and ethno-appropriator Ry Cooder, and is currently undergoing production by Howie B and Quincy Jones' grandson Sonny Levine.

"It's a mental project," Howie B said. "It's really exciting, quite incredible. It's Shaun back on it. Shaun's a diamond. He's singing well, he's rapping well, his lyrics are just right on it. His language, which was always unique, has got even better."

Ryder himself told NME.com that he was excited about the album.

"I'm not the world's best salesman, me," he said. "I'm not a salesman at all. I think it's a really great album."